compound-nucleus model

compound-nucleus model, description of atomic nuclei proposed (1936) by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr to explain nuclear reactions as a two-stage process comprising the formation of a relatively long-lived intermediate nucleus and its subsequent decay. First, a bombarding particle loses all its energy to the target nucleus and becomes an integral part of a new, highly excited, unstable nucleus, called a compound nucleus. The formation stage takes a period of time approximately equal to the time interval for the bombarding particle to travel across the diameter of the target nucleus (about 10⁻²¹ second). Second, after a relatively long period of time (typically from 10⁻¹⁹ to 10⁻¹⁵ second) and independent of the properties of the reactants, the compound nucleus disintegrates, usually into an ejected small particle and a product nucleus. For example, the compound nucleus silicon-28 is formed by bombarding aluminum-27 with protons (hydrogen-1 nuclei). This compound nucleus is excited, or in a high-energy state, and may decay into magnesium-24 and helium-4 (an alpha particle), silicon-27 and a proton, a more stable form of silicon-28 and a gamma-ray photon, or sodium-24 plus three protons and one neutron.

The compound-nucleus model is very successful in explaining nuclear reactions induced by relatively low-energy bombarding particles (that is, projectiles with energies below about 50 million electron volts).